Stamey under the sky.

Blue sky and Dave Stamey. What better way to spend a summer evening?

On July 19 at around 6:00 pm, legendary Western singer, songwriter, and entertainer Dave Stamey will step up onto a hay trailer parked in Cameron Wilkinson’s horse pasture in Mapleton, Utah, and cut loose with a rollicking evening of good music and good times.

Stamey’s pasture performances have become a summer tradition as Cameron invites Dave and all comers to congregate for a festive, informal celebration of cowboy tunes. The modest $22 charge ($11 for the little ones) to get through the gate all goes to the artist as he wends his way across the West filling auditoriums and performing at more formal venues. But, lucky for us, he always finds a way to detour to the foot of Maple Mountain for these galas among the graze.

If you’re within driving distance of Cameron’s place on July 19, or find yourself in the neighborhood for any reason, this will be the place to spend the evening. Contact Cameron at bronc.cw@gmail.com to let him know you’re on the way and to get more detailed information. It’s an evening that shouldn’t be missed. I know—I’ve been there before, and I’ll be there again. Hope to see you there.

Me and Tex.

A long time ago, when I was going to college and for a while afterward, I worked at a radio station. I was the morning disc jockey and I played country music.

“Pop” country was all the rage at the time, so I spun a lot of songs by singers like Olivia Newton-John, Charlie Rich, Donna Fargo, John Denver, and so on. But I also played a lot of what we called “pure” country, as well as oldies. Now and then, I would slip in an old cowboy song.

Hang on for a little explanation for the younger set.

Most of the music we played was on “records” called “singles”; vinyl discs that were about seven inches across with a big hole in the middle, with one song on each side, that played on a turntable at 45 revolutions per minute. Sometimes we would play album cuts, from discs that were about twelve inches across, with a little hole in the middle, containing several songs, that played at 33 revolutions per minute.

You can imagine the bizarre sound if you played a record at the wrong speed, say a 45 rpm record at 33 rpm, which could and did happen on occasion.

Back to the story.

Sometimes, just for fun, I would play an old Tex Ritter song titled “Blood in the Saddle.” I liked playing it because, inevitably, someone—or several someones—would call the idiot at the radio station and tell him he was playing the record at the wrong speed.

If you’re not familiar with Tex Ritter’s “Blood in the Saddle” give it a listen (the link will take you to it).

And, no, it is not playing at the wrong speed. Not then. Not now.

The week that was, Part Two.

As noted in the previous post, the week that turned January into February was a busy one. The morning after attending anniversary ceremonies at the site of the Massacre at Bear River, we packed up and headed to Elko, Nevada, for the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Besides enjoying the poets and musicians from the audience, I was also gathering material for an upcoming feature story for Saddlebag Dispatches magazine.

The story focuses on the wide variety of cowboy music on offer at the Gathering, “cowboy music” being defined as any damn song a cowboy likes.

I had the opportunity to interview (or “sit down with,” in banal journalistic babble) several artists who write, compose, and/or perform music. That included Jessie Veeder (pictured), a North Dakota rancher who sings about the life with a contemporary twist; Andy Hedges, a songster who collects and sings old-time, traditional cowboy tunes; Dave Stamey, widely recognized as one of the best Western songwriters and performers on stage today; Geno Delafose and his French Rockin’ Boogie zydeco band from the Louisiana prairies; Denise Withnell of Canada’s Cowboy Celtic band that pays homage to the even-more-ancient roots of many old cowboy songs; Wylie Gustafson of Wylie and the Wild West—“wild” being the operative word; Montana poet, songwriter, and singer DW Groethe; and honey-voiced horsewoman Trinity Seely.

And that’s not even counting the many other artists I had neither time nor space to feature.

As you can imagine, the variety in the musical offerings at Elko, and everywhere else Western enthusiasts gather, is rich and varied—something and someone for every cowboy (whether cowboy in fact or in spirit) to enjoy.

“Tall Tree” stands tall.

There’s a certain expectation I suspect most Western music aficionados have when sliding a CD into the player (or whatever you call it when playing one of those digital thingies). You expect a rich, vibrant voice accented with a hint of wide-open spaces. You expect lyrics relevant to life in the West, past or present. And you expect to hear guitars and an assemblage of other familiar instruments.

You get all that with Nancy Elliott’s latest release, Tall Tree.

But that’s where Nancy Elliott starts, rather than finishes, with this collection. It stretches the expectations of Western music to the point that she labels her music South-Western Americana.

Backing Nancy’s resonant vocals are the expected instruments, blended with unexpected additions such as pan flutes, eagle bone whistles, native flutes, hammered dulcimer, congas, tumbas, and other assorted drums. The result is music that is undeniably Western, but with added spice that enriches the sound in unexpected and alluring ways.

It’s a good sound. And the songs are darn good, too. Slide Tall Tree from Nancy Elliott into your CD player—you’ll like what comes out.

A new dispatch.

The summer issue of Saddlebag Dispatches is online and off the presses. Included in its 162 colorful pages is my regular column, “Best of the West.”

Featured in the column are cowboy poet Andy Nelson and songster Brenn Hill, whose on-stage exchange of poetry and song are unrivaled in western entertainment. Andy and Brenn are both outstanding writers, which, to me, is what matters most.

But that isn’t where their talents end. Andy is a master of ceremonies, reciter, humorist, and commentator without equal. Brenn is a lyricist, composer, picker, and singer of the finest kind. Together, they blend poems and songs on similar subjects seamlessly, alternating stanza and verse to tell a bigger story than either song or poem tells on its own.

Link up with Saddlebag Dispatches, and enjoy all it has to offer in the way of magazine features, short stories, poems, photos, and more.

And don’t miss the “Best of the West.”

Guys with Guitars.

For years, we have taken advantage of opportunities to attend performances by three of the best writers and singers of cowboy songs the West has produced. Ever.

Brenn Hill, Dave Stamey, and DW Groethe have long been favorites, and they become more so every time we see or hear them finger the frets and vibrate their vocal cords. We’ve heard them with various forms of accompaniment, from side men to backup bands, all the way up to an orchestra. Given enough such enhancement, most anyone (save the likes of me) can sound presentable on stage or in a recording.

But give a cowboy nothing more than a guitar and a microphone and you’ll soon hear what he’s got.

And that’s where Brenn Hill and Dave Stamey and DW Groethe stand out—standing behind a guitar and a microphone on an otherwise empty stage. While each has a different style of string bending, each is a master at making those six strings resound. There is variety in their vocals as well, but each offers a rich, strong voice with plenty of range and dynamics and all those other things singers have.

But their real mastery, I believe, is in their songwriting. From the Old West to the new, from stories from history to deeply personal musings, they set life to music in ways poets envy and audiences enjoy.

If and when you find any of these cowboys appearing anywhere in your part of the country, buy a ticket. Your ears will enjoy the experience.

Cultured cowboy.

Cowboy culture is a thing unto itself. Not to be confused with “high culture” associated with high society and such. In fact, the two worlds are, for all practical purposes, in different orbits altogether and seldom cross paths.

But, every now and then, something happens that makes you realize they’re not really all that far apart after all.

It happened to me recently.

Being big fans of cowboy singer Dave Stamey, my wife and I wandered down into central Utah for a concert not long ago. Which is not unusual, given that we’ve sat in the audience at a lot of his performances.

But what was unusual this time was that the artist—usually a solo performer—had a backup band: the Snow College symphony orchestra.

So, as Dave picked his guitar and crooned his cowboy tunes, he was accompanied by a string section, woodwinds, brass, and percussion instruments, all harmonizing in beautiful arrangements of songs written by Dave, along with a few Western standards.

It was a sight to behold (or should I say “be heard”?). The power of Dave’s music intensified with the orchestration, leading to a new appreciation of his songwriting, singing, and strumming skills.

It was a night to remember. And I didn’t even have to wear a tie.

Cowboy songwriter and singer Dave Stamey

Brenn Hill makes more music.

Anyone who’s been paying attention knows I am a fan of Brenn Hill. As songwriters go, he’s one of the best in the West. And he’s a talented singer and skilled musician.

I first heard Brenn’s music back in the late ’90s at a festival in Cache Valley. I don’t think he was shaving with any regularity back then, but his lyrics already surpassed the standard cowboy clichés to reveal facets of our Western world we all recognize but see with fresh eyes through his songs.

His debut Rangefire album has been in my collection since way back then, and it has spent more than its share of time in a succession of CD players over the years. Several years and a dozen or so outstanding albums later comes How You Heal. Sixteen songs, all Brenn Hill compositions, range from celebrations of cowboy work and Western places to songs that seem inspired by the writer’s maturity into his middle years.

“Middle Age Cowboy,” a story of a cowboy who clings to the life despite pressures to relent, will be familiar to all who reluctantly moved on to other pursuits. “Twenty and Cowboy” is a wistful reflection of years gone by. My favorite track just might be “Fair Weather Cowboy,” a rollicking revelation of a reality many experience but few will admit. The other songs on the album are remarkable for reasons of their own.

If you’re a Brenn Hill fan, you’ll like adding How You Heal to your collection. If you’re not, you ought to be.

Brenn Hill rides the high line.

Brenn Hill is one of my favorite songwriters. And singers. He has written a stack of albums filled with songs that capture the soul and spirit and stink and sweat of the American West. To my way of thinking, several of his songs are destined to become classics, played and sung and remembered for decades to come.

His latest album, Spirit Rider, is a bit of a departure from what Brenn usually offers. When I say he rides the “high line” with this album, I mean to say he gives us a glimpse of horseback heaven, which is as high a line as there is. The songs on Spirit Rider—some written by Brenn, some traditional hymns—remind us of the importance of faith, hope, and charity in our world and our lives. All done The Cowboy Way.

Spirit Rider (read more about it here: www.BrennHill.com) was a long time coming. Years in the making, as they say. And there’s a very good, very real reason Brenn set out on this particular ride up this particular trail. You can read about it in a story I wrote for the latest issue of Ranch & Reata magazine, which is filled with a lot of other interesting and informative and entertaining articles about life in the West.

Mary Kaye rides into the winner’s circle.

Some time ago I wrote about singer-songwriter Mary Kaye’s latest album, Ride a Wide Circle. Although I am seldom at a loss for words when my fingers touch a keyboard, it was difficult to sing the praises for that album effectively.

The judges for the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s Western Heritage Awards liked it too—they named the album’s title song winner of the Wrangler Award for music for Original Western Composition. And it’s no wonder. Say these few lines from the song and you’ll hear echoes of the beauty of her language:

And he’ll ride a wide circle, checkin’ stock and makin’ plans

’Cause he’s got dreams tied hard and fast, and they hold him to this land.

Yes, he’ll ride a wide circle and today he’ll ride alone

In a saddle that’s no rich man's trophy, it’s a workin’ man’s throne.

Hats off to Mary Kaye for another in a long line of awards recognizing her extraordinary abilities as a singer and, more important to my way of thinking, a songwriter. Visit her website and rope in a copy of Ride a Wide Circle.